1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to containers for flowers and other plants, and, more particularly, to containers for use in the display of plants for sale and later in forming a garden.
2. Summary of the Background Art
For many years, pots for flowers and other plants have been made using clay and ceramic materials in a variety of sizes and shapes. Generally, such pots are stackable when empty. The familiar tapered shape of flower pots is probably a result of an ancient need to provide stackability, so that a large number of pots could be stored and sold within a relatively small area. Thus, a conventional flower pot, being composed of a fired clay or ceramic material, has a tapered shape, an open top, and a bottom surface including a central drain hole, through which excessive water added to the pot is drained. Similar pots are injection molded using thermoplastic resins, often resulting in a color and appearance similar to that of a clay pot.
However, many conventional pots are so small that, even when they are filled with dirt, they are easily turned over or moved out of position, particularly limiting their usefulness in outdoor gardens, where wind, rain, and passing animals can easily move or overturn the pots. Thus, what is needed is a pot that can be fastened into place on an underlying soil surface by an integral feature of the pot.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,035,576 describes an apparatus for holding potted plants with enhanced stability, with the apparatus including a pole or standard and a baseplate. The pole is passed through a hole in a square baseplate, which conforms to the shape of the pole, with the pole being releasably coupled to the baseplate. The baseplate is secured or attached to the ground by flanges formed by the corners of the baseplate. Thus, the baseplate acts to support or stabilize the pots when the apparatus is subjected to adverse environmental conditions. In one embodiment, a receptacle, which may be shaped to hole a pot in turn holding a plant, is shown, with the receptacle being held above the ground on the top of the pole. What is needed is a container for a plant including a bottom wall configured to be placed on the surface of the ground and a downward-extending attachment member, formed as an integrated part of the container and extending downward from the bottom wall, so that the container can be placed directly on the ground and attached to the ground without the need for a separate pole, retainer, and baseplate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,417 describes an elongated member having one arcuate shaped edge and, on the opposite side a straight edge, which may be used to plant vegetative matter on a bank or hill. The elongated member is curved into a semicircle and held in place by spikes to that a planting hole may be formed on the uphill side thereof. Again, what is needed is a container for a plant that includes a bottom wall, a side wall, and an integrated elongated attachment member extending downward from the bottom wall.
Other patents describe plant containers including interlocking surfaces used to attach the containers to one another. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,541 describes a planter or flower pot construction in which approximately semicircular planters are arranged in horizontal courses, with the planters of each course being staggered in respect to those of the next lower course. The back walls of the planters, at top and bottom, are provided with alternating teeth and notches, adapted to interlock with the teeth and notches of the next upper and lower courses. U.S. Pat. No. 4,057,031 describes a molded stackable flower pot provided with an annular rim adjacent the bottom thereof, with the rim supporting the pot so that the bottom surface of the pot is spaced upwardly from a surface supporting the pot. The rim has a plurality of apertures defined therein, positioned so that the apertures will receive peripheral upper edge portions of two other similar flower pots so that pots can be supported in a stacked and interlocked relationship to each other.